Thursday, January 14, 2010

Simply the Best--Day 14

Today's BEST reaches back to one of those days that I had every intention of blogging about when it first happened, but time got away from me and I never got around to it.

In September, Mrs. Cheryl, Elizabeth and I packed up and headed to Colorado to meet up with Paige and celebrate Elizabeth's big birthday. Big as in, the BIG 30. On our first day of travel, we drove to Amarillo. The highlight of the day was dinner at The Big Texan. I love that place!

The next morning, we woke up and started off on what has to be one of the BEST adventures I've ever had. First we drove out to Palo Duro Canyon, one of the most beautiful places on earth~in a rustic sort of way. Every time I see it, I stand in awe of our Creator.Next we set out to find "The Huge Pair of Legs". We had some sketchy directions, but we figured, "How hard can it be to find a pair of huge legs in the middle of the West Texas plains?" However, the legs turned out to be more elusive than we anticipated. At one point we found ourselves in the middle of a small neighborhood where we pulled over to ask a road crew for directions. (Now she'll tell this next part differently, but its my blog so its my story.) Elizabeth rolled down the driver's window, looked at the road workers, and in her very sweetest southern drawl said, "Excuse me! We're looking for a huge pair of legs. Can you help us?" I just wish I'd had my camera ready to capture the look on those men's faces. They weren't sure if we were asking for directions or making a "proposition". Once we clarified, they pointed us in the right direction. And sure enough at the corner of I27 and Sundown Lane, there were the huge pair of legs, right in the middle of a cow pasture. In order to get a closer picture, it required hopping the fence~trespassing~but you only turn 30 once, so we figured we might as well live a little. Besides, the cows didn't seem to mind. I think they were used to intruders.From The Huge Pair of Legs, we headed on to Amarillo's other, more well-known roadside monument~The Cadillac Ranch. There, Elizabeth found a can of spray paint and immortalized the occasion by graffiti-ing a huge "30" on one of the submerged cars. Now we've added vandalism to our growing criminal history.We were having so much fun that we almost forgot our real destination~Colorado. So finally, about 2:00 p.m., we headed north. When we left Amarillo, it was 78 degrees. By the time we reached Clayton, New Mexico the temperature had dropped to 35 degrees and snow began to fall. Seriously. Snow. In September.I kept saying, "Oh, it won't stick because it was so warm this morning." Boy, was I wrong! This was the scene by the time we reached Raton.We finally made it through the inclement weather and rolled into Denver late that night. Elizabeth had booked us into The Curtis~ a super-cute boutique hotel where each floor has a different theme. So after our long, adventurous day of hitting on road crews, trespassing, vandalizing public property, and braving a snowstorm, we stepped off the elevator to be greeted by this~

"Heeeere's Johnny!"

I cannot remember a day in my life where I laughed so much, so hard and so often. That's why it qualifies as one of the BEST days on record.